More Corporations Are Buying Homes In Bloomfield, Study Says

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Corporations, banks and other institutions are buying an increasing number of homes in Bloomfield and other towns across New Jersey, a recent study says.

Last week, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) released a report titled “Buying New Jersey: The Rise in Institutional Ownership of Residential Properties.” Read it here.

According to the report, corporations and other “institutional” buyers have been snapping up an increasing number of houses and apartment buildings across the state, including Bloomfield. Over the past decade, nearly every town and city in New Jersey – about 96.4 percent – has seen an increase in the share of residential properties owned by real estate firms, business entities, trusts and banks.

As of 2020, about 6 percent of residential properties in the state were owned by corporations and institutional buyers, a 2.5 percent increase since 2012. The study didn’t include multi-family properties with five or more units.

Here are the local statistics for Bloomfield, which had the 110th highest rate of institutionally owned residential properties in the state as of 2020:

• Institutionally Owned Residential Properties – 847
• Institutionally Owned Percentage of Residential Properties – 7.3%

Bloomfield's totals are up 2.1 percent since 2012, the study noted. See totals for other New Jersey towns here.

When the average home buyer is competing against big business, they’re already trying to kick water uphill, said Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who also serves as commissioner of the DCA.

“This report shows the challenges that exist for homebuyers, particularly those with lower incomes, to purchase a home in their communities when they’re competing against corporations and business entities for housing,” Oliver said.

“While institutional homeownership is just one of several factors contributing to the very difficult housing market for regular homebuyers, it is an important factor,” Oliver added.

As of 2020, about 6 percent of residential properties in the state were owned by corporations and institutional buyers, a 2.5 percent increase since 2012. The study didn’t include multi-family properties with five or more units.

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People who rent their homes may be among the most vulnerable to this ongoing trend, the report claims:

“While the overwhelming majority of municipalities are experiencing a rise in institutional homeownership, the report finds the areas most targeted by institutional buyers tend to be lower-income, more distressed, and have a resident population consisting mostly of renters. The report states that this ‘may reflect a propensity to acquire property for speculation, investment purposes, or to rent out.’”

The DCA study was inspired by a separate report on Newark’s local housing stock from the Rutgers Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME), which was released earlier this year. That report highlighted a startling statistic: nearly half of Newark’s residential property is owned by corporations. Read More: Who Owns Newark? City Fights Back Against Corporate Home Buying Spree

“CLiME’s findings begged the question of whether this is a Newark-specific or statewide trend,” the DCA said.

Their conclusion? It depends on where you live.

At the county level, municipalities in Hudson, Union, and Ocean County by far have the highest average shares of these properties. Shares are relatively small in communities within Burlington, Bergen and Morris counties, the DCA stated.

According to the DCA:

“Examining incidences by municipality, Mantoloking, a small Ocean County shore community, takes the top spot on institutional homeownership, with one in four residential properties institutionally owned. Trenton takes the second spot at 23.4% and the top spot for municipalities with more than 500 residents, followed by Deal (another shore community), Atlantic City, and Woodlynne. Notably, most of Trenton and Woodlynne’s institutionally owned properties transitioned to institutional ownership within the last eight years. This was also the case in Newark, mirroring the CLiME study’s findings. Within Trenton, the highest shares appear in Chambersburg, Chestnut Park, and Coalport/North Clinton. In Atlantic City, very high shares are found in the Uptown, Downtown, North Inlet, and Bungalow Park neighborhoods. Although it is not in the top 10, Newark has the state’s 16th highest share of institutionally owned residential property, with very high concentrations in the West and South Wards, as noted in the Rutgers CLiME report.”

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